


what was to come

by blushing_pretzel



Series: No Time To Breathe [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, F/M, James is a good bro, Not Beta Read, Sad Ending, Sorry Not Sorry, this half assed but it makes me happy so take that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23425675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blushing_pretzel/pseuds/blushing_pretzel
Summary: James loved his family. He found and chose them all on his own, after all.-or: James is just a really good friend.-The origin of Magnolia from the No Time to Breathe universe- aka, Lily and Sirius.
Relationships: Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & James Potter, Sirius Black/Lily Evans Potter
Series: No Time To Breathe [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1214169
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	what was to come

**Author's Note:**

> It's crap but I think it's cute, okay? A cute lil drabble about Lily and Sirius and how James was a great Bro!

James wasn’t stupid. Sure, he was oblivious and had a poor attention span, but that was just his personality.

It took him a little longer than he’d like to admit to realize that Sirius was hiding something. Well, someone.

He’d been quieter in recent weeks, out later than usual, and he wasn’t up to his usual exploits. There wasn’t any gossip about any witches, either.

Now that, that’s what tipped James off.

Sixth year was supposed to be his year, Sirius had said. He was no longer living with his family, his Uncle Alphard had named him his heir, and he was all around happier.

But who was he hiding?

James kept himself awake, waiting until Sirius has slipped out the door. James jumped up and grabbed the invisibility cloak. He was near the door when Remus suddenly spoke. James jumped. He thought he’d been asleep.

“I’m coming with,” Remus got up. Peter let out a loud snore.

“You don’t have to,” James said.

“I want to know too,” Remus shrugged. But Remus had a feeling in his gut. The scent Sirius came back with every night was all too familiar.

“Alright, that’s fair. We need to hurry, before we lose him,” James replied and threw the cloak over both of them.

They followed Sirius out the portrait hole and down the hall to one of the secret tunnels that the marauders had long since abandoned when the other end was blocked with a statue.

Remus and James kept their distance, slipping behind a tapestry but keeping him in sight.

And then she appeared, a streak of long red hair, the color of her personality.

“There you are,” Sirius grinned, not bothering to keep his voice at a whisper.

“I thought I’d heard someone in the common room after you left, I wanted to wait,” Lily explained. Sirius nodded.

“Smart witch, you are,” He said before planting a kiss on her lips.

James nearly fell over.

Remus gripped James’s arm, both shocked and worried for what was to come.

But James didn’t flip out.

He smiled a bit, if a little sad, before nodding his head to where they came from.

They remained silent until they reached their dorm, Remus only speaking in order to say the password to get into the common room.

As James dropped his cloak into his trunk, Remus watched him carefully.

“Prongs...”

“I saw this coming,” James said before Remus could say anything.

“What?” Remus’s brows shot up.

James sat down on his bed and patted the spot next to him. Remus sat, confusion growing by the second.

“This summer, Sirius went to Snivellus’s house. He went to apologize... after everything that happened with his parents, he felt like he needed to. But I guess Sirius got booted away only to run into Lily. They wrote each other all bloody summer. He tried to hide it, but Sirius is a horrible secret keeper,” James laughed a bit.

“But you-” Remus pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to process this information.

“Not anymore. I haven’t for ages.”

Remus stared at James for a moment before it really hit him.

It had been about the chase, at least until the end of last year.

James Potter no longer fancied Lily Evans.

But Sirius Black did.

* * *

Sirius had felt guilty in the beginning, before James first figured he and Lily were writing. But then James shrugged at the letters. _“You’re allowed to talk to her, mate, it’s not like I own her.”_

So Sirius did.

Then the school year began and the guilt came back in full force when he and Lily began to hangout in secret. His guilt faded when he remembered that Lily was just his friend, and dammit, James wasn’t in charge of them- he wouldn’t been angry, anyway. They were just friends.

But then Hallowe’en happened.

His lips had met hers in a broom cupboard. Her hands had tangled in his hair, his hands had held her waist and cupped her cheek, and she had smiled so brightly he felt like his world would never see dark again.

By Merlin, he loved her.

Sirius loved Lily.

“I love you,” He told her only a week later as they met in their alcove.

Again, he was met with a smile that lit up not only his world, but his universe.

“I love you, too,” Lily replied.

He laughed joyfully and kissed her softly.

He couldn’t feel guilty for loving Lily Evans, but he could feel guilty for not telling James.

He knew he had to tell him.

Especially when he found him sitting up with Remus late one night after returning from Lily. His Lily.

Sirius could only stand in the middle of the dimly lit dorm, listening to Peter’s soft snores.

James gave him a smile and a nod. Remus kept looking between them as if he was reading a book.

“Prongs, Moony,” Sirius started slowly, cautious.

“It’s alright, mate,” James said, “I know.”

* * *

It was nearing the end of their sixth year on a particularly warm day when Sirius broke down as he sat next to Lily in a hidden nook on the edge of Black Lake. Remus and James looked up from where they were messing on the shore but decided to keep their distance. Lily could handle Sirius’s fits well, nearly better than James could at this point.

“Siri?” Lily grabbed his hands, pulling them away from where he pulled at his hair. “Talk to me, Love.”

“I… We need to break up,” Sirius said softly.

Remus heard and whipped his head to stare at the couple.

“I’m sorry?” Lily asked in disbelief.

“Lily, you know I love you,” Sirius looked up at her and gazed into her eyes. His were filled with tears, conflicting emotions flying through them.

“Then explain to me why we need to break up,” She demanded.

“My family,” He stated.

Lily paled.

“Do they know?”

“Narcissa, she figured out I’m seeing someone. It’s a matter of time before she figures out it’s you and tell Bellatrix and Malfoy,” Sirius closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, “I… I can’t let anything happen to you.”

“Sirius-”

“Lily, I was supposed to be the heir to the House of Black. They’re going to go for your blood because they will blame you for me refusing the Dark Lord,” Sirius cut her off.

“That’s ridiculous,” Lily snapped, “I’m not letting you break up with me because your family.”

“They will kill you, Lily!” Sirius cried.

“Let them! I love you; I’m not giving up on our future!”

“I am!”

They fell silent, staring at each other with tears pouring down their faces, now standing.

“If they figure out that I love you, they will hurt you,” Sirius rasped out, “I can’t have that. It’ll kill me.”

“If we can just keep it a secret until the end of this fight, we can be together, Sirius,” She pleaded, “The light will win.”

“It looks suspicious regardless. You spend all your time with me, Remus, and James. Eventually someone will find out.”

“What if someone finds out she’s dating someone else?” James interrupted.

Sirius and Lily jumped, forgetting that Remus and James were there.

Lily gave him an exasperated look, “James, what-”

“What if everyone thought you were dating someone else, Lily?” James asked, “Padfoot, would that make you feel better?”

“Well, if it gets my family to leave her be, but it’s not like she can go and date someone else if she’s actually with me,” Sirius said slowly.

Then it hit Lily and her eyes lit up.

“By Merlin, that’s actually brilliant,” Lily grinned, “But who?”

“Well, Lily, who spent five years driving you mad with asking you out?” Remus raised a brow.

James nodded eagerly.

Sirius gulped as he realized what they meant.

“James, that’s too much of us to ask,” Sirius said.

“Nothing is too much for my brother,” James gave him that lopsided smile, “Besides, what’s better than a grand prank like this pulled on your damn relatives?”

* * *

James, Sirius, and Lily had never thought it would go this far.

But James would happily say it was worth it. Sure, marrying Lily in a muggle ceremony was a little much, but when he was protecting his godchild, it was worth it. Lily and Sirius had assured James that he could back out the moment they found out she was pregnant, but he was not about leave his family vulnerable.

There were few people who knew the truth at this point, why should he let anyone think for even a moment Lily and Sirius betrayed him in the middle of a war? Alice, Frank, Remus, Dumbledore, and Peter could only protect them so much. The number of those who knew dwindled in recent times, as more people died. Fabian, Gideon, and Marlene, just to name a few.

James knew they’d thought it odd, to give up so much to protect a friend, but Sirius was his brother. Sirius, who pulled him out of the path of Avadas. Sirius, who held him as he sobbed over his parents’ deaths. Sirius, who would readily die and kill for him.

He loved his brother, and he loved the sister he’d found in Lily.

No one would hurt his family.

There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he would die for them.

* * *

Magnolia Alice Potter (Black, in secret) was born screaming to three adoring parents and two loving Uncles, Lily joked.

* * *

Of course it was the one night Sirius wasn’t home. Of bloody course.

Fuck Dumbledore’s stupid missions.

James had been reading, waiting to hear from his brother, when he heard it. Lily was frozen with Maggie in her arms.

He jumped up, wand raised.

“Take Maggie and run. Go!” James yelled. He cursed as Lily ran upstairs, they needed to get out. The door was blasted in and James readied himself for a fight he knew he would lose.

He’d be dammed before someone hurt them. So he stood his ground, blocking the stairs.

 _“I’m sorry, Sirius.”_ He thought as hazel eyes met red.

“Guess I can’t trust a rat around a snake?” James said.

“Foolish man,” Voldemort sneered. The last thing James saw was a flash of green.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm thinking about a second chapter for this, of James and Lily watching things happen after they die, yeah?


End file.
